Group Questions/Answers

Since this was a group trip, I turn it over to the others to have their say in answering six questions.  Responses are shown in reverse order they were received, only because that was the simplest way for me to find them in my email!  Here's what I have so far, and will add more if I get additional responses.

1.  What was your favorite activity/thing we did?  And why?

John: I'd have to say the Pandas.  It was a lot more than a trip to the zoo with actually being able to feed them and be so close to the young ones.  Most Americans will at most get to see maybe one or two at a time, but we got to see several in the same day.  Just a very cool experience.

Robin: It was the panda bears because it was an up close and personal experience with these majestic animals!

Don: It is hard to beat visiting the Great Wall.  One of the great wonders of the world.

Laura:  Favorite activity is a 3-way tie between the Great Wall, Terra-Cotta Warriors, and the Pandas.  They have all been on my bucket list for a long time.

Carol: Favorite activity: interacting with the pandas. Despite my skepticism of having to clean their enclosures, I enjoyed the work. I loved being able to feed the pandas up close!

Jean: Lunch on the Great Wall is going to be really hard to top.

2.  What was your SECOND favorite activity/thing we did?  And why?

John:  Great Wall.  All my life I have heard about the Great Wall, I've read about it, watched videos about it and always considered it pretty cool.  But to be there and walk on it and see what the soldiers saw, and actually see how huge it is was just about as good as it gets.  But Pandas win.

Robin:  The Dazu Rock Carvings because I had never heard of it before this trip.    

Don: The Terracotta Warriors.   An amazing feat.

Laura: Second favorite was the Yangtze River Cruise.  It was an opportunity to see the Chinese countryside and an opportunity to relax after a few hectic days.

Carol: Terracotta Warriors: I remember reading about them in National Geographic and was captivated by the idea of these figures waiting to be rediscovered. To see them was an experience I had thought about for years.

Jean: The whole panda thing.

3.  What was your favorite meal?  And why?

John: The steak at the end.  Although I enjoyed a lot of the Chinese food, I'm just a meat and potatoes guy.

Robin: The steak and creme brûlée.  It was just perfect.

Don: Sorry..but it would be anything western.  

Laura: Favorite meal was the dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel in Guilin.  It was "over the top"

Carol: Toss up between the lunch at the Muslim restaurant and dinner at the Cantonese Palace.  The flavors and presentation of the food was wonderful.  Really liked the veggies at both places.

Jean: Peking  Duck because of the way it was presented 

4.  What was your favorite hotel?  And why?

     

John:  St Regis in Beijing.  It was a beautiful hotel and the service with Albin and Pandora was just fantastic.

Robin: The St. Regis in Beijing because of the butler staff!

Don: St. Regis Beijing with the butler staff.  The finest hotel I have ever stayed in.

Laura: Favorite hotel was the St. Regis in Chengdu---so luxurious (and who could forget the toilets!!!)

Carol: The Peace Hotel.  Room was comfortable, but the history of the hotel was very cool.  Loved the outside Terrace Bar and the Jazz Bar. 

Jean: The one with the automatic toilet because I'm easily amused

5. What was the most surprising thing you learned about China on the trip?

John: I was surprised at how capitalistic China has become and at their infrastructure.  They really do a good job on their infrastructure, and they must be expanding their middle-class based on the number of cars on the roads today.

Robin: The history of the Dazu Rock Carvings.

Don: How friendly the people are toward us and fascinated by westerners.

Laura: Most surprising thing learned was how modern China has become.  I wasn't expecting such luxurious hotels, so many freeways, and all the people using automobiles and cellphones.  China is no longer a "sleeping giant" and will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Carol: Two things: 1. There’s a lot more wealth in China than I expected. The country is growing at a crazy rate.  The new construction going on was amazing.  I didn’t imagine seeing all the new cars on the road.  2. The air pollution was worse than I expected. I had read about it and had talked to people who been there, but experience the almost constant smog was a little scary. 

Jean: That China is so commercialized. The cave with all the lights and the commentary on what the stalagmites and stalactites actually were was a bit much.

6.  And, finally, what did you learn about yourself on the trip?

John: I learned that as I age these trips get harder and harder and if I have any ideas of doing more of them I better get them booked pronto.  It was a fantastic adventure.  It was great being able to share it with Robin and Don, and it was great meeting new friends.

            

Robin: That I don’t have to do everything on a trip to still make it a great trip.

Don: I don’t care for stairs any more.  :-)

Laura: What did I learn?  I'll use a quote from Anthony Bourdain.  It's a long one but sums up what I have learned from my travels... 

"Travel isn't always pretty.  It isn't always comfortable.  Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart.  But that's okay.  The journey changes you; it should change you.  It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body.  You take something with you.  Hopefully you leave something good behind."

Carol: I knew I would enjoy the trip ,but I loved the adventure of China.  Meeting the people, visiting both ancient and modern China was eye-opening.

Jean: That I like to know how other people think, live, and eat.

Some Random Stats From The Trip

Trip days: Twenty.  One day lost to flying.  Four nights in Hong Kong.  Three nights in Beijing, two nights in Xi'an, four nights on the Yangzi Explorer river cruise, two nights in Chengdu, two nights in Guilin, and two nights in Shanghai.

Eight airplane flights totaling 18,816 miles.
Longest flight: Newark to Hong Kong: 8,065 miles
Shortest flight: Xi'an to Yichang: 280 miles

One train ride totaling 756 miles

Cruise on the Yangzi River: approx. 355 miles 
Li River Cruise: 52 miles

Total bus rides: 49
(Final Editor's Note: Counting the number of bus rides is a bit obsessive.  Blogger: Stat Boy be called Stat Boy for a reason!)
Longest bus ride: 267 miles -- Chongqing to Dazu Grottoes to Chengdu

Hotels: 7

Total steps on Glen's Fitbit: 248,819 (124 miles)
Best day: 21,997 steps (11 miles)
Worst day: 7,406 (over 3.5 miles) -- that was our travel day back to the US. 

2,879 photos taken by Glen on the camera, plus some on iPhone.
Carol took many photos with her iPhone -- don't have a count though.

28 Nat Geo activities (not including meals), plus three additional unauthorized explorations.

Last 24 Hours of the Trip

After lunch, we had free time until meeting for dinner at 6 pm.  Carol and I walked along the Bund on a bright, sunny day.  We were afforded beautiful views across the Huangpu River.

We walked down Nanjing Road to the pedestrian walking area, but it was essentially a street of expensive brand name shops.  I couldn't find a soup dumpling, so I settled for a pork bun instead.  

It was a pleasant afternoon before our final dinner.  This bus ride was only a half hour away, and we went to a beautiful old restaurant which was, of course, surrounded by dragons and late model luxury cars.  

The highlight was the Chinese wine, which was better than I expected it to be.  I'm not about to start importing it, but give them a few years. . .and it could be good.

The highlight of the evening was going to the Jazz Club at the hotel for drinks after dinner with some of our fellow travelers.  Based on interest among the group, I had made reservations for a table for eight.  Turns out it was a table for two, with eight chairs crammed around it.

That didn't matter, as it was a fun evening listening to the Old Jazz band (the average age of the band members is 82 years old, excepting the younger jazz singer.  I don't know her age, but I would guess she's nearly 50 years younger).  Carol and I were joined by Don, Robin, John, Kimmie, Nancy, and Andrew.  Alas, our favorite Scotsman, Ian, was tied up trying to unravel issues with their flight home.

The bar is designed to be a throwback to the 1920s, and it worked. I never imagined I'd spend my last night in China in a bar listening to jazz!

The next morning, at breakfast we said goodbye to folks, took one last walk along the Bund, this time heading west to the Monument to the People's Heroes along the river.  Built in 1993 to commemorate revolutionary martyrs and those who have lost their lives fighting natural disasters, the monument is at the confluence of Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River.

We walked back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, and headed to the airport.  Then it was just waiting to catch the flight.  Our amazing experience in China was over.

Last Set of Photos For The Trip -- Shanghai

Wall of flowers, Shanghai Tower,

and the Bottle Opener building.

Shanghai skyline by day.

Typical Chinese tourist.  Yankee

hat?  Yup.  Selfie stick. Yup.

The Bund Bull, done by the same artist who

did the Charging Bull on Wall Street in NYC.

The bull is symbolic of perseverance, diligence,

and wealth in Chinese culture.

Finally, the bottle opener building

gets the shot it deserves.

Pretty women and pretty flowers

are found all along the Bund.

I didn't know Dolphin topiary

is a thing, but now I do.

I'm not sure what this is.

Ceiling in the Customs House

Chinese wine with dinner.

Table one of the Nat Geo group.

And table two.

One last dragon.

The famed Old Jazz Band at the hotel bar. 

The Jazz singer.

Old City Shanghai is Older Than Old Town Alexandria

Our last full day in China started with a trip to Yu Gardens and Old City Shanghai, also called Old Town Shanghai.

The bus dropped us a few blocks outside of that area, and we walked through a run-down area that undoubtedly is slated for demolition and rebuild in the near future.  The land is too valuable and too close to downtown Shanghai to not be rebuilt.  

As we passed by some food shops on the road, Andrew suggested I go take a sniff of one of the large fruits -- Durian.  It stinks.  Like a 12 year old boy's room (I was one once, I know the smell).  I made a face, and a Chinese woman laughed and "tastes good."  I passed on the opportunity to taste it.  

We came to a spot where a Chinese couple were posing in garish red outfits for wedding photos.  Apparently at wedding receptions, the couple changes multiple times into different, often matching outfits. Seems like more trouble than it is worth, but hey, I'm old. 

Diving into Old Town, we passed by many shops, through narrow streets, until we came to an open, crowded square.  There were beautiful old buildings, and a large pond with many huge koi fish.  The main feature was the zig zag bridge, which was so crowded we could barely get across.  I'm not sure why, but I was reminded of the Charles Bridge in Prague -- even though the bridges were nothing alike.  I guess it was the crowds and festive atmosphere that brought that memory back.

The gardens are stunningly beautiful.  Started in 1559, the expense of the garden ended up financially ruining the Pan family that built and owned it.  It is five acres in size, and is divided into six main areas.  It features rockeries, gardens, pavilions, ponds, towers, rounded gates, and dragon walls separating each area. 

At one point, I told Andrew that "if you told me to draw a Chinese garden, well, it would be pretty bad because I can't draw, but THIS is what I would try to draw."

After the garden, we were back into Old City Shanghai, and given an hour or so to shop and wander.  After Carol and I stopped at Dairy Queen (apparently "two small chocolate cones" means two VERY small vanilla cones dipped in chocolate).  But it was good.

We then wandered around the small streets, including some very cool alleys.  The place is packed with small shops, some selling nice souvenirs, and others selling typical souvenirs.  Some shops encouraged haggling, while others were set price places.  You could tell the difference between haggle shops and set price shops just by looking at the shops from outside.

We also had been warned that we would be approached by shysters and told to follow them for deals.  We were able to fob off the grifters pretty easily, and "no, we did not want to buy a watch" was a phrase we employed often. 

Carol was particularly proud of her haggling to buy a tea set for Torie.  Leo had suggested offering half the initial asking price from the merchant. The woman asked 300 yuan for the tea set.  Carol countered with 150. The woman pointed to herself and made the universal hand motion of slitting her own throat, which was a commentary that she would be doing if she accepted that price.   The merchant countered with 250.   Carol countered with 200.  The woman went with 225. 

All of the negotiations were written down on a piece of cardboard.  At 225, Carol turned to me and said, "let's go."  I was surprised she was giving up that easily, but when the woman said okay to 200, I realized leaving was part of Carol's haggling.  For a woman who doesn't like to haggle, Carol got good at it really quickly. 

As faithful readers of this blog know, I'm not big on shopping, but wandering around this part of Shanghai was enjoyable.

We had lunch at an American restaurant in Shanghai, with a menu of a tasty kale salad, steak from Australia, and dessert.  Here, we could both drink water and another drink.  (When I would ask at most restaurants for both beer AND water, I received strange looks.  Apparently you get one type of drink, not a drink AND water at Chinese restaurants).  As much as I enjoyed all the Chinese food we were eating, it was nice to have a break from it with this meal. 

Photos From Yu Gardens and Old Town Shanghai

Smelly Asian fruit -- Durian.  Type in "smelly 

Asian" and Google completes it with "fruit Durian."

And there's a reason for that!

Not all buildings in Shanghai are new.

Not all vehicles in Shanghai are

new, it just seems that way.

Wedding photos.

Old Town Shanghai.  

This Tea House dates from 1855.

The famed Zig Zag bridge, also known as nine

turn bridge.  It zig zags for three reasons -- so you

can enjoy different views, because ghosts can't run 

zig zag, and because it was built that way! 

Foreground: Old China.  Background: New China.

Dragon fish.

Quintessential Chinese garden

No shortage of dragons in the garden.

Chinese Dairy Queen puts

the "small" in small cones.

Some Thoughts On Nat Geo

We can’t say enough good things about the Nat Geo expedition.  Our fearless leaders were actually fearless, and more importantly, interesting, patient, and organized. 

When Carol and I were younger, we never wanted to be those tourists who follow a guide carrying a flag around.  And we still don’t, in Europe.  But it worked well for us in China.

As I’m writing this, we’re flying from Shanghai to Chicago, and from there to Reagan National.  This means I have time to do some reflective writing, and not just blog about what we did each day.

Nat Geo did a heckuva job, and I would highly recommend this trip for anyone who wants to go to China, but doesn’t want to do it on their own. 

We crisscrossed the country.  We went to places I’m not sure I EVER would have planned to go without Nat Geo paving the way.  There was certainly a lot of travel, including three internal flights, one day of seven hours on the bus, and a five hour plus train ride.  

Frankly, I would have not done such an aggressive schedule, simply because I would not have known what to do.  And we loved the aggressive schedule.  

Really, out of the 28 events we did through Nat Geo on this tour in China, only two were underwhelming to us.  Everything else was a hit.  Oh, the things you know about would be hits – The Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Terracotta Warriors – of course those are mind-blowing experiences.  But how about the cliff carvings?  The Li River cruise? The Xi’an city walls?  The Temple in Guilin? The 816 Underground Nuclear Engineering? The Panda work?  All of those were magnificent.  These were not easy to get to, and if Carol and I had done a self-directed trip, I bet we would not have put together that itinerary.

Having the guides was great.  Leo and the local guides were fabulous at conveying historical, cultural, and social information about each place we went, as well as China overall.  And Andrew was able to put all of that into easily understood perspective for us to understand more about both daily life in China, as well as the big picture, both historically and currently.

Oh, I wish I could remember everything they told us, but I soaked a bunch in.  I also know that things will flash back to me as I review the blog and photos over the years.

My awareness of Chinese history and culture probably went from zero point one percent to ten percent.  I know what you are thinking, so let me say it for you.  “Glen, ten percent isn’t a lot.”  Well, look at this way – I know 100 times what I knew before this trip.  

And, Andrew doesn’t have to sweat the competition.  I’m not suddenly going to become a China hand, but I do have a far broader, more in-depth on this 1.4 billion person country than I did before. 

Is that going to help me be better at my job?  Probably not, unless something unexpected happens.  Is that going to help me sound smarter at cocktail parties?  Well, I don’t go to cocktail parties.  It does give me great memories and a better perspective on a country I really knew little about before this trip.

We stayed in nicer hotels than I expected.  Some of that is, prices are lower here.  Before we came over, Ian had checked the hotels against Booking.com, and with the exception of the Beijing and Shanghai hotels, the prices on most of them were $100-$150 per night.  Knowing that we were booking ten-eleven rooms a night AND it’s repeat business, I have to believe Nat Geo paid less than even the Booking.com rate.

Not everyone loved the food, but Carol and I did.  I may have mentioned this before, but my favorite food in the world is Spanish tapas – because there are so many flavors in one meal. Eating Chinese food banquet style opened up a whole new culinary experience for me.  And, of course there are so many different types of Chinese food.  It seemed like we tried it all.  Oh, sure, there were a couple of meals where I thought the food was just okay, but to us, the vast majority of it was great.

The trip exceeded our expectations.  And for that Carol and I are grateful to Leo, Andrew, my fellow travelers, and the Nat Geo team.  If you are thinking about doing a Nat Geo expedition to China, do not hesitate.

Shanghai Impresses

Our last two nights were to be spent in Shanghai.  We had a late morning flight from Guilin that got us into Shanghai around 2:15 pm. 

We bused from the airport directly to the Shanghai Tower, which is the second tallest building in the world.  It scrapes the sky at 632 meters (2073 feet).  The building was completed in 2015, and boasts the second-fastest elevator in the world, hitting top speed at 46 miles per hour, aka triple the speed of I-395 during rush hour.

After looking at some displays about the building, and the other tallest buildings in the world, we took the speedy elevator from basement level two up 120 floors to the 118^th floor.  Ears popped as we went up. 

At the top, we were afforded striking, albeit polluted, views of the entire city as we ranged around the circular viewing area.  We climbed one flight of stairs, up to the 119^th floor, and saw the same views, from one floor higher.

The river cuts the city in half, with the near-constant shipping traffic visible below.  We had a good look at the Bund across the river – buildings built by the British, French, and Germans back at the turn of the last century.  They look impressive, but small, dwarfed by the many skyscrapers. 

Off in the distance were uncountable numbers of apartment buildings, and even a few houses.  Thirty million people in a city have to live somewhere.

We had good ice cream cones at what might be the highest ice cream store in a building in the world.  If there is NOT an ice cream store high up in the tallest building, then this one wears that crown.  And it was good ice cream.

After dinner at a really good restaurant, a large number of the group met Leo at 8:45 in the hotel lobby to take an optional walk on the Bund.  Our hotel, the Fairmont Peace, is right on the west bank of the Huangpu River, just across the street from the famed Bund.  Carol and I figured "Bund" had a German origin, but according to Wikipedia, the real origin story is far more interesting:

The word bund means an embankment or an embanked quay. The word comes from the Persian word band, through Hindustani, meaning an embankment, levee or dam (a cognate of English terms "bind", "bond" and "band", and the German word "Bund"). Mumbai's Apollo Bunder and city names like Bandar Abbas and Banda Aceh share the same etymology. The various "bunds" in east Asia, may therefore be named after the bunds/levees in Baghdad along the Tigris, given by the immigrating Baghdadi Jews, like the prominent Baghdadi Sassoon family who settled their businesses in Shanghai, and other port cities in east Asia in the 19th century, and heavily built up their harbors. In these Chinese port cities, the English term came to mean, especially, the embanked quay along the shore.

The Bund features many official foreign buildings built in the late 1800s through the early 1930s.  

It's really lively place spot right on the river.  The skyscrapers across the way were all lit up.  And they were lit! (Millennials now think I’m cool for using “lit” – right daughters?  Right?  Right?).  The Bund was packed with people, but we could patiently wait for spots at the railing to take pictures of the buildings all lit up.  It's like a mellower Times Square.

Shanghai is China’s most worldly city, as we saw plenty of foreigners out enjoying the Bund.  We came upon people dressed in military uniforms with huge numbers of China flags being waved triumphantly.  At first we thought it was a pro-government demonstration, but it turns out a movie was being filmed about the Cultural Revolution.  They needed the backdrop of the older buildings rather than new Shanghai.  

When we looked more closely, we could see that members of the cast were roller skating.  And there were two drones filming.  I’m guessing it was a musical number, because there were a multitude of flags and roller skaters.  Clearly it will be the feel good movie of the year!

After walking some more and enjoying the light show, the river, the boats, and all the people, we headed back to the Hotel.  We went up to the Terrace Bar on the ninth floor, and had a spectacular view of the light show.  Alas, we got up there close around 9:30, and the light show ended at 10 pm. 

It was cold.  They had large blankets for warmth.  We weren’t the only party up there.  The poor bartender had more people up there than he could handle, but it was a fun, invigorating time nonetheless.  Finally, the bar was shutting down, we were getting cold, and we called it a night.  Fun times. 

Shanghai Day #1 Photos

The bottle opener from the side.

The bottom right -- the 2nd largest building

in the world (Shanghai Tower).  The bottom

 left -- the famed bottle opener building

 (Shanghai World Financial Center).  Top is the

famed Jin Mao Tower.  All in all, a very

cool perspective to shoot from.

Click on the picture to see the airplane better.  These

three buildings form the world's first grouping

of three adjacent super tall buildings.

Stacked on top of each other, they would add up

to 5,067 feet tall.  The top building is 2,073 feet tall,

with the building on the bottom right being 1,614 feet,

and the bottom left building the shrimp of the three 

at 1,380 feet.  Pretty cool.

From the 118th floor.

The top of the bottle opener from the 119th floor.

These skyscrapers look tiny.

Bottle opener and Shanghai Tower

at night from the Bund.

Our hotel, the famed Fairmont Peace Hotel.

The Clock Tower on the Customs House

The Shanghai TV Tower

From center are three of the 

largest buildings in the world.

Good shot of the east bank of the Huangpu

River, from the Bund on the west bank.

The Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (domed

building), the Customs House, and, behind it,

the Lotus Flower building.

The Monument to the People's

Heroes, garishly lit up like

an overdone Vegas casino.

Cool scene for a movie I will never see.

Cool building.

John taking pics from the hotel's terrace bar.

And Ian doing the same.